Dealer sleeve · Sunderland
Ferry & Foster, Ltd., 67 John Street, Sunderland
A dealer sleeve for a Sunderland music shop selling pianos, Pianolas, radio, gramophones and records.
Dating at a glance
- Printed
- probably 1920s – 1930s
- In use
- Not established
- Confidence
- Low
- Basis
- The goods advertised: radio alongside Pianolas
The sleeve
Brown paper printed in black. A panel at the top left reads Ferry & Foster, Ltd. 67 John Street, SUNDERLAND.
and one at the top right Specialists in Good Quality RADIO & RECORDS
. Lower left: PIANOS, “PIANOLAS,” RADIO, GRAMOPHONES, RECORDS. Radio and Gramophone Repairs.
At the right a page-boy figure carries a case lettered SERVICE AFTER SALES
, and the lower right corner reads Phone 4058.
Simon reports that both sides are the same.
The evidence
- ObservedRadio and Pianolas together. The sleeve sells radio, which places it after public broadcasting began in Britain in 1922, and still sells Pianolas, a trade that declined through the 1930s.
- InferredSo, probably the 1920s or 1930s. This rests on the goods advertised, not on a dated source, and we hold it with low confidence.
- DocumentedThe firm. Ferry & Foster were piano and music dealers at 3 Bridge Street, Sunderland, in the early 20th century (Beamish People’s Collection; Sunderland Echo). We have not found when they moved to 67 John Street.
Sources
- Sunderland Echo, “When Sunderland’s front rooms all had pianos, and music shops did a grand trade”: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/retro/when-sunderlands-front-rooms-all-had-pianos-and-music-shops-did-a-grand-trade-4634632
What we could not find
- Dated directory entries for Ferry & Foster at 67 John Street.
- When Sunderland telephone numbers had four digits like 4058.
Researched 12 November 2026 from Simon’s photographs of that evening.